The 1960s brought us some excellent WWII flicks with incredible cinematography and great acting--particularly THE GUNS OF NAVARONE and WHERE EAGLES DARE. In this same vein we have THE HEROES OF TELEMARK. It's not quite as big in scope as these other two films, but it is still an excellent film.

Kirk Douglas is a Norwegian man living out his life in the UK during the war, as his native Norway was overrun by Nazis. However, he is convinced to return. His expertise is needed to infiltrate a factory to see if it is indeed manufacturing Deuterium ("heavy water"--used in the production of atomic weapons). If so, he's under orders to destroy it or pinpoint it for bombing raids. What makes this tough is that its surrounded by a town full of innocent people, so the stakes are high.

The acting and action are excellent. What I really liked was the ending. While VERY depressing, it just goes to illustrate the high cost of war.

PS--After watching this movie, I discovered that much of it was true--including the sad but necessary scene involving the ferry. Such a raid really did occur in Norway in order to destroy their deuterium production.

THE HEROES OF TELEMARK is a solid enough WW2 adventure in the WHERE EAGLES DARE mould, although the direction is a little off and not quite as involving as in the true classics of the genre. This is a surprise given that director Anthony Mann made some great films with James Stewart back in the 1950s, but you get the impression that his heart wasn't quite in this one.

It is, however, watchable enough, and has an interesting true-life story that keeps you watching throughout. Kirk Douglas is the hero of the piece, playing a Norwegian scientist who agrees to help resistance forces blow up a factory that the Nazis are using to develop nuclear technology. Richard Harris plays in support as a stock hero, but the supporting cast are a little lacklustre. The only ones who make an impact are an aged but effective Michael Redgrave, Anton Diffring as yet another Nazi, and Roy Dotrice in an early part.

THE HEROES OF TELEMARK saves most of the action and set-pieces for the latter half of the production, and at times the adventure feels muted, but it's quite well shot. The snowbound action is occasionally remarkable and seems to have inspired the later Bond movies that utilise ski chases and the like, such as ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. The climactic scenes are where it really picks up and Douglas shows his mettle in some good cat-and-mouse style moments.

When Norway was occupied by the Nazis it had a unique burden to face. With the exception of Winston Churchill all the rest of the Allied political and military leaders favored no military operations to liberate Norway. The war was not to be fought in Scandinavia. Therefore the Norwegians could only sit back and hope for an allied victory in other parts of Europe in order to be free.

Knowing that those who resisted in Norway did it from real anti-fascist conviction and the fact that they wanted to do something against their unwelcome occupiers.

The Heroes of Telemark and the Norwegian film, Kampen om Tungtvannet on the same subject that was previously done showed the Norwegians in their resistance just such a chance even though it did not help one bit in the liberation of their country.

The Nazis have a plant used for making heavy water, deuterium, water made with a hydrogen atom with a neutron as well as a proton. This stuff was critical in the development of the atomic bomb. When a Norwegian scientist got wind of it he gets a message to a colleague played by Kirk Douglas who escapes to Great Britain to inform the Allied High Command.

Douglas goes back to Norway and with Richard Harris makes several attempts to destroy the water. A whole lot of people, British Commandoes and Norwegian citizens die in the attempts made. But the job gets done.

Hey if the job hadn't gotten done, I'd be writing a review of a different kind of film, maybe in German.

Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris prove uneasy allies. In a recent biography of Harris it was reported that he and Harris did not get along at all on this film. Douglas is a talented egotist and Harris was quite the carouser back in those days and also didn't get along with both Marlon Brando and Charlton Heston on films he co-starred with them. Not a good combination for a happy set, but the film got done.

Anthony Mann did some great location photography in Norway for this film, shot on the actual sites. Kirk and Dick on skis, even if it was stunt doubles were something to watch.

The Heroes of Telemark is a good World War II action/adventure film and a nice tribute to the Norwegian resistance.